The Princess and the Goblin

Anything in me that is brave, honest, kind, and honourable is due in great part to the many times I read this book when I was young. I loved the characters and the adventures, and the settings of both mountain and palace (especially the mysterious dove tower).

I had forgotten other appealing aspects: the humor, and the excitingly challenging vocabulary words. And, perhaps most appealing, is a part of the story seldom mentioned in the descriptions here - Princess Irene's amazing courage. At age eight, *she* rescued Curdie from the cave where the goblins lived and plotted against the sun-people.

A couple of quotes: We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard [frustrating] not to be. But there is one thing much more show more necessary.... To understand other people."

and, "If a true princess has done wrong, she is always uneasy until she has had an opportunity of throwing the wrongness away from her by saying, 'I did it, and I wish I had not, and I am sorry for having done it.'"

MacDonald made me feel as if I could be a true princess, as he holds much less stock in titles & lineage than in strength of character. And while he's clearly not subtle about sharing his thoughts, he's not annoyingly didactic, either.

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To be entirely fair, this isn't a book I read as a child (wish I had, though). I saw the film as a kid never knowing there was a book, and even after I was introduced to George MacDonald it wasn't till a nostalgia trip looking for the origins of the movie that I discovered this story. I absolutely love MacDonald's work, just so original and fantastic and imaginative, but what I love most of all about it, and which figures in this, is his apparent belief in the union of two people to reach a solution. There is an inherent power that comes from loving someone else, a theme pervasive in his works that, despite all the learned cynicism of the world, still makes my heart flutter a bit and feel hopeful and happy for the characters. Typical of show more this, Princess Irene and Curdie both have their skills and advantages, but they'll only succeed by joining together.

I have to read books like this in private because I get a ridiculously sappy smile on my face whenever this happens. It cramps my style. show less

This classic fairy-tale-style story is set in a land where the Goblins and Humans have had a "cold war" for many, many years. Long ago, the Goblins threatened that some day they will steal a princess...and their day finally comes when Princess Irene's nurse accidentally keeps the Princess out after sunset. Luckily, they are rescued by a miner's boy, Curdie - but now the Goblins know where the Princess lives and what she looks like. When the Goblins hatch a devious plot, Curdie and Irene become fast-friends as they act in turn as heroes. First and foremost, this is a fairy-tale. But it is also an allegory about faith. Princess Irene has a great-great-grandmother - a mysterious and heavenly woman that only she can see. Irene's very-great show more grandmother gives the Princess a magical string and tells her to follow the string whenever she's afraid - never doubting it or deviating from it, regardless of where it may take her. Irene must learn to have faith even when she thinks that the string has led her astray. And Curdie must learn to have faith in a very-great grandmother that he has never seen. This is a sweet story, nice for reading aloud to young children. show less

When I was 100 pages in, my wife and I started reading it aloud to each other. She ended up getting sick that night, and we finished the whole book the following day as she rested and recovered. We were both glued to the book as the action started, and we really enjoyed hearing what happened next to the Princess and to Curdie.

George MacDonald is a delightful storyteller, with the same types of insights that mark C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia--it is no wonder that Lewis regarded MacDonald as "his master."

The goblins almost come across as an oppressed minority - or rather the king and his people are clearly oppressors of goblins. Somehow this charming tale doesn't work quite as meant when it has the goblins being taxed underground and redeemed by becoming brownies. All the verbiage of how one must behave when one is a princess (or prince?) is a bit much too. But the brisk story and the steadfastness of Curdie and Irene remain.

A formative favorite from my childhood; I read it several times then. I'm about due for a reread. After all, given that it's MacDonald, I'm sure it will hold up just fine, if not be even better now.
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And yes it did. At first a bit of hard going, not for me but it must have been for child me and might be for your child. But then I got swept away again and read it in one summer afternoon.

I do not like the copyright page summary, which says Curdie protects the princess. She is at least as brave and inquisitive as he, though more sheltered and four years younger (8 and 12, respectively). And she goes on quite the quest to save *him* at one point, too!

"fear... always sides with the things we are afraid of."

"it is a low and contemptible show more thing to refuse to confess to a fault, or even an error."

(Would that more politicians and internet trolls would have learned that lesson!)

Now, the question is, do I read the sequel? I remember not liking it nearly so much, back then. show less

I wanted to read The Princess and the Goblin as an adult; it's a foundational book in the development of children's fantasy, with an active female protagonist as well. And... I didn't love it. Supposedly less moralistic than prior MacDonald works, it still reads like an instructional manual on how to be a good person, which doesn't make a great story. I had questions at the end, like why does the Goblins' Queen have toes? And Curdie is heaped with praise for choosing to stay with his family while King-Papa spends the whole time gallivanting around the country WHILE HIS DAUGHTER IS BEING ATTACKED BY GOBLINS. Every children's book goes into logical conniptions to get the parents out of the picture so that adventurous things can happen, show more but then one doesn't go on and on about the importance of staying with one's family: it makes one of your characters look like a royal jerk.

Important work, and I'm definitely never going to read it again. show less